I Have Returned, but I Cannot Lay down My Gun

Chapter 207 – Personal Desire

───Clank!

Vrooooom!

A sound closer to a chainsaw than gunfire echoed loudly in the sky over New York. Six rotating barrels spewed intense flames, and hundreds of supersonic lead bullets spread death even faster. A green laser dazzler swept eerily across the ground.

I clenched my teeth. The monstrous recoil that even a sturdy adult man couldn’t withstand tried to lift the muzzle to the sky, but my superhuman physical abilities allowed me to control both the recoil and accuracy of the minigun as I unleashed a barrage on the five enemies approaching from the northern quadrant.

Pressing the fire button, the rapidly diminishing rounds fell at a speed my eyes couldn’t follow.

Witnessing this, some belatedly spoke in disbelief.

“No, what is this, Terminator?”

-??????????????????????????????????????

-What are this person’s limits? What are this person’s limits? What are this person’s limits?

What are this person’s limits? What are this person’s limits?

-How can you discuss human limits when they’re not even human? LOL

-I can hear the Balkan Boys freaking out from here LOL

-Is he some kind of space marine?

With the popularization of VR, all sorts of impossible plays became commonplace in reality, and among them, solo minigun operation was something that anyone with boosted STR (strength) would try at least once…a kind of eccentricity.

It was by no means normal.

The sight, which couldn’t even be seen in Ground War Mode where about 100 people, essentially a company-sized force, clashed, suddenly occurred in Domination Mode, causing the ten thousand viewers to collectively display question marks.

Additionally, the viewers watching Yoo Jin’s broadcast were viewing this scene from a first-person perspective.

This was self-evident – soon, with an enthusiastic response, countless clips of Yoo Jin’s crazy stunt started to flood the chat.

“Pffft-!”

Naturally, the one who bore the brunt of this impact was the editor.

Especially since they had already learned Yoo Jin’s true identity through a recent team-building event, it was clear that such antics were possible for the person even in reality. Of course, even without that knowledge, it was still surprising.

As always, Yoo Jin was an utterly outrageous employer. Though, to be honest, it was more fearsome than outrageous.

To bridge the speed gap between VR and reality, a real-time screen reconstruction function, or a feature that reconstructs frames and voice parts in real-time and broadcasts them at triple speed, was turned on.

The editors and thumbnail creators watching the screen in real-time chuckled absent-mindedly. At least the latter didn’t have to worry too much. Even without Yoo Jin making specific requests, they already had a clear idea of how to draw the thumbnail.

Of course, it would take a bit more time for today’s edited video to be uploaded. At least three days, at minimum.

But aside from that-

“…Seriously, the boss is a true entertainer.”

The person in question would naturally deny it, but highly rational actions often appeared as eccentric to others.

And it was the editor’s job to make these actions look better, more fun, and thrilling for more people to watch.

Meeting expectations was the only way.

So they started marking the edit points today as well.

Meanwhile,

‘…I only intended to help a little, but it’s ruined. The old memories came back, and I grabbed it naturally….’

Vrooooom.

With the muzzle flames filling my sight, I sighed secretly.

Anyway, it was definitely self-inflicted.

“Woohoo, we won!”

“In reality, we lost. I think you know why.”

“Yes….”

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t a proper win.

At the last moment, Dice and I flanked B and captured the sector, but the situation for our allies in that area wasn’t great. While about five of our allies remained, the enemy chose delaying tactics, and although we had almost gained full control of B, we would soon have lost it again.

The enemies were smart, and our allies were weak. Harmony likely realized this to some extent. As the opponent’s skill increased, clumsy methods wouldn’t work. As always, the answer was to improve individual skills, judgment, and tactical awareness. Harmony was the proof of that.

Anyway, our breakthrough power was weak, which slowed down the enemy’s elimination. In Domination Mode, dying meant respawning near the sectors your team controlled, so directly attacking B was a bad move.

Combat was always about forcing a crappy situation on the enemy to be effective. Maximizing our advantage and imposing unfavorable situations on the enemy. Especially, it was generally better not to charge at a place defended with a high-firepower weapon like a minigun.

“…That’s the lesson. I hope it was a good experience.”

“Yes. It opened my eyes. I think I need to abandon personal pride during combat….”

“Exactly.”

Nodding, I added,

“The most important thing before executing a plan is to distinguish whether it’s a rationally derived objective or driven by personal pride. Human minds are not that rational.”

This case was no different.

If we truly wanted to win, we should have divided into two groups of six at A and C and trapped the enemies at B. But playing like that leaves an impression of being cowardly in everyone’s minds.

Blocking A and C continuously would naturally lead to an advantage, so at least once or twice, you’d get into the baseless confidence that charging would be okay.

I had never experienced such a battlefield, but years of experience guaranteed that result. People always interpret situations optimistically. The outcome of such optimistic interpretations would always be disastrous.

Anyway, after a few more minutes of discussion, a conclusion was reached. Harmony, as a squad leader, had no significant issues. Specifically, they lacked experience as a squad leader, but there was no need to touch other parts.

On the contrary, Harmony’s team members had a long way to go. To be more specific, I asked Dice to quickly lead the three to the shooting range as mentioning it directly could hurt their feelings.

Even though it was during a broadcast, I muted the conversation to have a private talk. It wouldn’t have been good for the viewers to hear it.

“Considering everything so far, it would be better for Mina to first learn the basic squad operations. While gaining practical experience by fighting high-tier users is good, if our allied forces are relatively weak, learning efficiency drops.”

“Ah… I see.”

“Engaging in combat with those who have enough physical skills to properly execute Mina’s commands should be the priority.”

“So, what about Stone, Limit, and Hotteok? Should they just practice individually? Honestly, it feels weird to say this, but I learned too harshly from you, so there’s a skill gap….”

“Don’t worry too much about that.”

I then added,

“Besides individual practice, I plan to teach those three about the roles of squad members as I play the squad leader role.”

“Wow!”

They rejoiced briefly, then showed a subtle expression – not knowing what to say or looking slightly regretful. Were they sympathizing with the three who would be trained under me?

I met his gaze, albeit briefly.

He quickly averted his eyes as if I had struck a nerve.

“…Well, you might as well offer your condolences in advance.”

“I believe in Yoo Jin!”

“That’s enough.”

Thwack!

I flicked his forehead lightly and checked the broadcast time.

We had been playing Domination mode for about six hours, and everyone was starting to get exhausted. In reality, it was 8 PM. I judged that we couldn’t extract any more useful data from the game.

Meanwhile, Harmony, though looking a bit tired, still had bright, alert eyes. After enduring such a rigorous curriculum, her stamina had significantly improved. Or perhaps it was her mental strength. Either way, I contemplated how to continue training her.

The streamers’ tournament was roughly ten days away. Since today was Thursday, the tournament would be the Saturday after next. That meant we had about three days of free time left—enough to let Harmony’s team members practice individually until next Monday.

So, it was Harmony’s turn now.

“First, until next Monday, focus on your role as squad leader. Whether you create private rooms to play or directly raise your tier… it doesn’t matter. Just continue playing as squad leader. I’ll help you with the voice chat.”

“Yes… Now that I think about it, I haven’t played this mode since our last collaboration. I haven’t played ranked games either. I’ll try it a couple of times when I’m not streaming.”

“That’s up to you.”

In any case, the final conclusion for today was that—Harmony and the others who came for today’s lesson would have to delay our next meeting until they reached a suitable skill level for my curriculum.

It might be disappointing for the viewers exceeding one hundred thousand, but skills don’t improve overnight. So, it was time to say goodbye to Harmony and her group.

After Harmony’s simple yet determined statement that she would bring a cake to my house soon to celebrate their first place in the Asia preliminaries, I unmuted the microphone and added briefly for the viewers.

“Then, from now on… Hmm, I haven’t thought of what content to do next.”

Of course, the viewers started causing a ruckus at this point.

But,

“Ending the broadcast here feels a bit regretful, so I’ll briefly share the behind-the-scenes of the Asia preliminaries with Dice.”

-What????????????

-Hoorayyyyyyy[unintelligible letters]

-Oh, I just had dinner, but now I need to order a late-night snack again ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-Ugh, I can’t put my spoon into the soup!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-The content here is so solid ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Naturally, Dice was also willing to join in.

As always, it was a predictable reaction from the viewers.

“Ouch, stop hitting my butt.”

“Who makes someone shoot a gun as soon as they arrive!”

“Oh dear.”

Slap, then a whoosh.

This time, unlike the Asia preliminaries, I didn’t get repeatedly hit on the butt. Before the next strike could land, I wrapped my tail around her arm to restrain her movements. Dice made a strange noise and flailed her arm.

After lying in bed for about two and a half hours, my body felt languid. Dice, having streamed with me, had slightly disheveled hair. It was almost 9 PM.

She made a sound of exasperation as she opened the bedroom door and then added quietly.

“I’m hungry. Please give me food. I didn’t eat dinner because I thought we were eating together today!”

“Really? What do you want to eat? Since you came as a guest today, you deserve a treat.”

“I want pizza.”

“Then pizza it is. Any preference for the menu?”

She nodded.

With that, nearly 100,000 won swiftly left my wallet. About four pizzas and a few side dishes were set to arrive at my house within 40 minutes. Of course, I planned to eat most of it.

Since I had a guest, I should treat her generously. I turned on the lights in the house. Unlike last time when a wall was filled with delivery boxes, the house was now quite serene. I joked with her as she wandered around.

“How does it feel to visit again?”

“As always, it’s such a Yoo Jin-like house. Purely functional.”

“I shouldn’t have asked.”

I should visit Dice’s place sometime. I thought I was living decently, but now I’m curious about how others live.

Anyway, I asked Dice, who was plopped on the soft sofa.

“Do you feel burnt out?”

“Huh? Burnt out… Oh, right. I came here because of that today.”

“Pull yourself together.”

“Then let me stroke your tail.”

Oh dear. Though I said that, I sat next to her and lent her my tail.

After some conversation, it turned out Dice’s case was relatively mild. It was a common situation… Rather than burnout, she was probably feeling lethargic from resting too much due to a reward mechanism and came here to force herself to move.

Realizing it wasn’t serious, the conversation naturally turned lighter and simpler. For instance, discussing what kind of practice to do in the future. Just briefly touching on such matters.

While waiting for the pizza to arrive—

“Oh, right!”

“What is it?”

“I brought something before coming to Yoo Jin’s house.”

Then she dashed to the kitchen, took something from a neatly set chair under the table, and made a rustling noise.

With a triumphant “Ta-da,” she held something up in the air.

That is…

“Oh dear.”

“I didn’t expect to eat pizza today, but since it’s bread with cheese, it should roughly go well with wine, right?”

Sigh.

Seeing Dice spout such nonsense, I regretted mentioning in the last interview that I couldn’t drink alcohol in various ways.